


Mirror Glass

by RandomestFandoms



Category: American Housewife (TV)
Genre: Bad Parenting, F/F, F/M, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Neglect
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27321154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomestFandoms/pseuds/RandomestFandoms
Summary: Missy Bradford really was everything that Katie Otto hated about Westport rolled into one privileged princess.  Too rich for her own good, no regard for the rules, the most obnoxious brother in the world; really, she was just the perfect Westport housewife in training, and Katie hated her on principal.  At least she did, until Missy interrupted her second breakfast to thank her for grounding Cooper, and Katie learns that there’s a bit more to the town princess than anyone knew.
Relationships: Cooper Bradford & Oliver Otto, Cooper Bradford/Oliver Otto, Greg Otto/Katie Otto, Taylor Otto/Trip Windsor, original female character/Taylor Otto/Trip Windsor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Mirror Glass

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own American Housewife
> 
> WARNINGS. parental neglect, underage drinking, anxiety attacks

Katie couldn’t help but roll her eyes as Nancy fawned over Cooper Bradford. She knew that he was only fourteen, and Oliver’s best friend, but he was such a spoiled little d-bag. Vay-vacationing, really? God, this was why she hated Westport.

“Oh!” Nancy exclaimed, in that obnoxious little giggle of hers. “Would you consider marrying a much older woman?”

Katie blinked, turning to Oliver only to see that he looked as confused as she did, but Cooper took it in stride with one of his impossibly cheerful smiles.

“ _Jailbait_ ,” a new voice sing-songed, and Katie looked up to see Marissa Bradford approaching.

She knew it was probably wrong to hate a sixteen year old girl without ever talking to her, but she _hated_ Missy Bradford.

The redhead was everything that Katie hated about Westport. The richest girl in Westport, Missy was just as much of a spoiled brat as her brother. From what Katie had heard — from Taylor, Oliver, and Cooper himself — Missy was the most popular girl in the school and completely untouchable as far as authority was concerned. Katie saw her around town all the time, sometimes with her blondetourage and sometimes alone, but usually with Cooper. She was always in their stupid, sleek, chauffered Bentley or on her pastel pink vespa, and always dressed like she was going to meet the president or something.

And this was no different. In a tight plaid mini skirt and a strappy tank top that showed way too much cleavage, the girl was a walking dress code violation. Her brown leather jacket probably cost more than Katie’s car, and no sixteen year old should be able to walk in her heeled booties without breaking their ankles. 

She approached them with a perfectly fake smile plastered to her face, perching her signature gold ray-bans on top of her perfectly curled red hair. She nodded politely at the two moms and ruffled Oliver’s hair — who, shockingly, didn’t object, although he did immediately fix it — before reaching her brother.

Missy kept that perfectly annoying stepford smile on her face as she wrapped an arm around Cooper, putting herself between him and Nancy in a move that was too calculated to be a coincidence but too polite to cause an argument — another stupid Westport thing that the future housewife had mastered.

“You’re too sweet, Ma’am,” she said, her voice sugar sweet and ice cold, “but I have to ask that you please resist the urge to hit on my underage brother again. And Coop, honey, we’ve talked about this before.”

Cooper sighed, but smiled fondly at the older girl. “I need to tell you when people say things like that,” he recited. “I would have told you when I got home, I promise!”

“I believe you,” she assured him, ruffling his hair. “Now why don’t you fill me in on what I missed?”

Katie would never admit to how curious she was to hear Cooper’s version of events, but Oliver recaptured her attention as he goaded Nancy into donating her vacation home to the auction.

“So?” Missy asked pointedly. “Mom and dad are coming to the Spring Gala now?”

“Well…” Cooper trailed off, looking away. “I haven’t asked yet.”

His sister sighed, but smiled when she saw the concern on his face.

“I’ll deal with it,” she promised. “Don’t worry about it.”

Concern faded into his usual beaming smile, which only brightened when Nancy promised Katie the house.

“Alright, well, I need to go make some calls,” Missy announced, clapping her hands together. “Coop, make sure that you study for your test tomorrow, and be home in time for dinner. Oliver, try to make sure he studies?”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Oliver agreed with a mock salute, and Missy ruffled both boys’ hair one last time before heading down the street towards her vespa.

_God_ , Katie hated her.

**★ ★ ★**

Cooper had cheated on his test. Of _course_ , Cooper had cheated on his test. And of course Katie had to clean up his mess. God forbid the kid actually face any sort of responsibility for his screw-ups, not perfect Cooper Bradford. No, he had Katie Otto to get him unsuspended, and had already moved on like nothing had ever happened.

And Greg was right, of course. She hated the way that the rich people in Westport used money to get out of trouble, but she _really_ needed the Spring Gala to be a success, and it wouldn’t be if the Bradfords changed their mind about hosting a table.

“ _Dude_ ,” Oliver exclaimed from his seat at their kitchen counter, Cooper perched beside him. “Your phone hasn’t stopped blowing up all day. Your parents?”

“Missy,” Cooper corrected. “She’s… not thrilled about the whole suspension thing.”

“You think you’re gonna be in trouble?”

Cooper scoffed. “No way! I’m in high school dude, I can do what I want. Besides, it’s not like she’s my mom or something, what’s she going to do about it?”

Well maybe Missy Bradford couldn’t do anything about it, but Katie Otto could. She saw the look on Greg’s face — the look that meant he knew that she was going to have to acknowledge that he was right, and she really did hate that look sometimes — and turned back to the boys.

“I’m sorry, Oliver, I did a bad thing,” she said, before turning to the taller boy. “And you, what you did at school was awful. And you need to be punished. You’re grounded.”

“Grounded,” Oliver explained, at his friend’s blank stare, “is when you’re forced to stay home and lose all your privileges.”

“Stay home?” Cooper asked. “Great! Guess I get to work on my bowling and play with my zebra.”

_UGH._

“No,” Katie corrected immediately. “You are staying at our house.”

“So I get to stay here?” he asked, beaming when no one corrected him. “ _Bueno_!”

“Before you die,” Katie told him, “I’m going to make you sad.”

The boy just continued to beam at her, until Oliver coughed pointedly, nodding towards Cooper’s phone.

“Right! I need to call Missy,” Cooper said, grabbing his phone.

Clearly his sister had been on her phone, or waiting for Cooper to text her back, because he barely had to wait for it to ring before he started talking.

“Missy, guess what! Mrs. Otto just grounded me, and I get to stay at her house!”

Across town, Missy was sitting in one of her many living rooms, homework spread out around her. It was untouched, she hadn’t been able to focus at all with how worried she was about her brother.

“Hey, Cooper, nice to hear from you too. Thanks for checking in and letting me know everything was okay,” she said. “Grounded?”

“Oh, right. Hi Missy, I’m okay, I’m not suspended anymore, and I’m grounded.”

“I’m… happy for you? You can be grounded if you want, but I need you to text me every two hours to check in, and when you’re going to bed every night, _capiche_?”

“Yeah, I _capiche_ ,” he agreed easily.

“Good, good. Can you give the phone to Mr. or Mrs. Otto?”

“I can do that!” he turned back to look at the two confused adults in the room. “Can Missy talk to one of you?”

Katie let out an audible sigh — she _really_ didn’t want to have to deal with the other brat too — but nodded.

“Okay Missy,” he said into the phone, “I’m giving the phone to Mrs. Otto!”

“Thanks, Coop.”

Cooper handed the phone to Katie, who took it reluctantly.

“Yes?”

“Hi, Mrs. Otto. Thank you so much for looking out for Cooper, I know that our parents will appreciate it. If there are any problems, feel free to give me a call. He did mention that you had grounded him and he’d be staying over, so I was just wondering how long that would be for so I can drop off clothes and school supplies and everything?”

Katie paused, she hadn’t thought about that.

“Just until the end of the week,” she decided.

Missy nodded, before remembering that the woman couldn’t see her.

“Okay. Would it be alright if I come by in, say, half an hour with his stuff? If that doesn’t work for you guys, I can come over really anytime, or—”

“Half an hour is fine,” Katie interrupted.

“Right, alright, um… cool. I’ll see you then.”

“Right, see you then,” Katie agreed, handing the phone back to Cooper.

“Best behaviour, Coop, alright? It took a lot of convincing to get mom and dad to come to the Gala, and I don’t want them to back out because there are problems.”

“I know, Missy. I screwed up, it won’t happen again. I love you?”

“I love you too, Coop. See you soon.”

“See you soon,” he echoed, before hanging up.

**★ ★ ★**

It was half an hour to the minute when Missy’s chauffeur pulled up outside of the house and Missy climbed out with a large duffle bag and a backpack.  


_Great_.

“Cooper, your sister’s here,” Katie called, and the boy almost tripped over himself running down the stairs.

He was out the door before Missy could even knock, and the redhead immediately dropped both bags so that she could return his fierce hug.

“I’m sorry, Missy,” he said into her shoulder. “I messed up.”

“Yeah, you did,” she agreed. “But I’m not mad at you. I’m disappointed, because I know that you know better, but everyone messes up sometimes. As long as you learn from it, we’re okay.”

“Promise?”

“I promise,” she said, squeezing him one more time.

Cooper grabbed both bags without prompting — _huh_ , Katie didn’t know that he knew how to do that — and carried them into the house, his sister following on his heels.

“Hey Missy,” Oliver called from the couch.

“Missy?” Taylor echoed, bouncing down the stairs. “Oh, hey Missy!”

_Great_ , another one of her kids who was obsessed with a Bradford brat.

“Hey Oliver! Hey Tay! Oh, Mrs. Otto, hi!”

“Hi Missy,” Greg greeted cheerfully from his office.

“Mr. Otto, hi! I didn’t see you there.”

“I was hiding,” he laughed, making his way over to join the others in the kitchen.

“Sneaky,” she retorted, straightening up when Katie cleared her throat.

“So, Cooper,” she said, “your grounding is going to last the rest of this week, just like your suspension would have. Every day, you’ll go to school with Oliver, and you’ll come home together as soon as class is done. Then, you’ll do your homework and help with chores until dinner, understand?”

“All week?” Cooper asked, looking over at his sister.

Missy wrapped an arm around his shoulder, pulling him close. 

“It’s only three more days,” she said, although she sounded no more certain than he did. “I’ll see you every day before class, during lunch, and after class, and when you’re not in class you’re going to be checking in every two hours, and you’ll text or call me before bed every night, alright?”

He nodded, and Missy took a steadying breath — and for the first time, Katie realized how bloodshot her eyes were. She’d either been crying, drinking, or not getting nearly enough sleep, and Katie really wasn’t sure which one it was.

“Alright,” Missy repeated. “I packed everything I thought you would need, but if I forgot anything, just text me. I switched the volume onto my phone, so if you need _anything_ , just call, promise?”

“Promise,” he agreed immediately.

“You’ll see each other in the morning,” Oliver reminded them, “it’s not that long.”

“Right,” Missy said, forcing a laugh as she blinked back a few stray tears. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I’ll see you in the morning. Love you.”

“Love you too,” she said quietly, pulling him into another tight hug.

They separated after a moment, and with a final soft look between the siblings, Missy was heading back out the door and into the car.

“Come on, dude,” Oliver said, seeing the worried look that his best friend wore. “Let’s get you set up in my room.”

Cooper nodded, letting Oliver lead him upstairs with his bags, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Katie turned to Greg.

“Why didn’t you stop me from grounding him at _our_ house?”

**★ ★ ★**

The first night was surprisingly okay. Cooper had been more than willing to help with Oliver’s chores, and Oliver had even been able to convince him to do his homework. Katie was — almost — not regretting her decision.

“Oliver, Cooper, it’s time for bed,” she reminded them.

Oliver nodded with surprisingly little resistance, but Cooper shifted uncomfortably on the couch.

“I—” he started, quieting at Katie’s sharp glare. “Okay.”

“Dude,” Oliver said, more gently than Katie had ever heard from him, “don’t forget that Missy wants you to call before going to bed.”

Katie rolled her eyes — really, was she _that_ worried about Cooper being out of his mansion? — but Cooper lit up like someone had just told him that he was getting a Ferrari or something.

“Oh, right!”

“You can call her in my room if you want, I’ll come up when you’re done?”

Cooper nodded with a bright smile, quickly taking off up the stairs.

“Okay,” Katie said, turning to look at Oliver. “What was that about? No fourteen year old boy is _actually_ that excited to talk to his sister.”

“Missy and Cooper are different,” Oliver shrugged. “According to Cooper they’ve never been apart for a night before, and it’s freaking him out. His parents are always away, you know? Missy is the constant for him.”

_Huh._ That was… not what she expected to hear.

Meanwhile, up in Oliver’s room, Cooper had quickly changed into his designer pyjamas and was trying to settle his breathing before calling Missy on Facetime.

Like earlier, the phone barely had a chance to ring before Missy picked up.

She was wearing her comfort pyjamas, Cooper noted absently, the designer flannel set that he’d gotten her last Christmas. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was up in a messy bun so out of character that he wondered if he had maybe woken her up.

“Coop? Is everything okay?”

“Hey, Sis,” he said quietly, unable to help himself from reverting to his childhood nickname for her — the one that came from his inability to pronounce Marissa; the one that eventually turned into her becoming Missy Bradford — at the sight of her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, immediately picking up on the nickname.

“Well, you wanted me to call before going to bed,” he said, carefully avoiding the question.

“Coop?” she prompted, raising an eyebrow.

“I… I don’t know, Sis,” he admitted. “But Mrs. Otto said it was time for bed and I just… I miss you.”

Missy let out a soft sigh, smiling fondly at the younger boy.

“I miss you too, Coop. Everything is so quiet and empty here, it’s weird. But, I know that Mrs. Otto’s opinion matters to you. If you want to come home, I’ll come get you right now and handle it myself—”

“No! I mean… I miss you and I wish I were home but I think this is something I have to see through, right? Consequences for my actions or something?”

“Or something,” Missy laughed. “It’s totally your choice. But I had a feeling that bedtime would be hard, that’s why I wanted you to call. What do you need?”

“You know everything,” Cooper retorted playfully, a smile finding its way back on his face. “Can we just — can we pretend it’s a normal night?”

“Of course we can. Are you ready to go to bed?”

Cooper paused, looking around the room. Before he could answer, there was a knock on the door and Oliver was poking his head in.

“Hey, mind if I get ready for bed? You guys can keep talking but mom’s eye was getting all twitchy and I wanted to get out of the blast zone.”

“Of course you can, _amigo_ , it’s your room!” He turned back to his phone. “Is it alright if we wait until we’re both ready for bed? So that I can sleep right after?”

Missy nodded immediately.

“Whatever you want,” she promised. “Hey Oliver!”

“Hey Missy,” Oliver called back from across the room, changing into his own pyjamas. “I’ve just gotta brush my teeth and I’ll be back.”

“Oh, I haven’t done that yet either! Be back in a minute?” Cooper said, directing the last question to Missy.

“I can wait,” she said, “dental hygiene is important and all that.”

Cooper laughed, setting his phone down on Oliver’s bed to go brush his teeth.

“So, what are you waiting to be going to sleep for?” Oliver asked when Cooper joined him.

Cooper flushed and looked away, distracting himself with wetting his toothbrush before he answered.

“Every night when I’m about to go to bed, Missy comes to my room to say goodnight. And we always go through our highlights from the day — she says it’s good for me to focus on the good things when I’m going to sleep.”

“Dude, that’s—”

“I know, it’s a little kid thing, but—”

“No way, dude, I’m honestly kind of jealous. Nowadays my mom only comes to say goodnight as an excuse to make sure that she doesn’t have to yell at me for not being in bed.”

Cooper finished brushing his teeth, rinsing out the toothpaste before speaking.

“You know, she wouldn’t mind if you wanted to join us.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want her to feel like she has to include me just because my mom grounded you.”

“ _Dude_ , it’s _Missy_! She roped me and Taylor into doing a group Harry Potter costume your first Halloween here, remember? She definitely won’t mind, she likes you!”

Oliver nodded, rinsing his mouth and spitting out the excess toothpaste, and the two boys made their way back to Oliver’s room. They both climbed into the bed, careful to leave a socially acceptable space between them, and Cooper picked up his phone again.

“We’re back! Is it okay if Oliver joins us?”

“Of course it is,” Missy agreed immediately. “Who wants to start?”

“I can?” Oliver offered.

“Alright, awesome!” Missy beamed, and Cooper passed the phone to his best friend. “So, what were the highlights of your day?”

“Well, Cooper gets to sleep over all week, and I was able to convince mom to handle the auction gifts the Westport way.”

“That’s great!” Missy told him. “I’m proud of you!”

Oh. _Oh._ No one had actually said that to him in a long time, and he wasn’t prepared for the wet sting in the back of his eyes.

“Thanks,” he said quietly.

“My turn?” Cooper offered, and Oliver handed the phone back, quickly wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. “I’m at my first sleepover ever, and mom and dad are coming back to town for the Gala! Wait, are they going to come?”

“They’ll be there,” his sister said. “I talked to them earlier. But for the record, this is why you guys are supposed to talk to me _before_ enacting your evil schemes.”

“We will,” Cooper promised.

“From now on,” Oliver added. “So… what are your highlights?”

Missy hummed quietly. “Well, Cooper is at his first sleepover, which is awesome, and I won my mock trial today.”

“That’s awesome, congrats!” Oliver said.

“It is, that’s so cool!” Cooper agreed.

“Well, we should probably get to sleep before my mom catches us,” Oliver said, after a moment of comfortable silence.

“Coop, will you be alright if we hang up?”

“I think so,” he nodded.

“Okay, good. Call me if there’s anything you need, okay?”

“Okay. Night Missy, I love you.”

“I love you too, Coop. Goodnight both of you, get some sleep.”

**★ ★ ★**

Second breakfast, the best part of Katie’s day. Even more so now that it meant that she was free from Cooper’s grounding too.

One morning down, only three more to go. And true, Cooper hadn’t been a problem yet, but Katie was still looking forward to the end of his grounding. He seemed like he was actually a well-meaning kid, but he was so out of touch with the real world and Katie couldn’t handle it.

If he asked about the safety of her tap water _one more time_ —

“Mrs. Otto, could I talk to you for a moment?” 

Katie sighed, turning to see who was interrupting her second breakfast. It was Missy Bradford. Of _course_ it was Missy Bradford. The redhead stood at the end of the table, wringing her hands in the hem of her shirt. 

_Ugh_ , that shirt probably cost more than Katie’s entire house, and the girl was wearing it for a normal school day — wait, it was a school day. 

“Missy? Shouldn’t you be in school right now? I know they don’t let you guys leave during the day.” 

Missy giggled, light and airy and _god_ she probably rehearsed it in the mirror every morning. She really was just the perfect Westport housewife in training. 

“Oh Mrs. Otto, that doesn’t apply to me—” _ugh_. Missy paused, carefully untangling her hands from her shirt and folding them together. “And I have my first period off anyways. I’m sorry to interrupt, I just know that Cooper is usually at your house and I wanted to talk to you while he’s not around.” 

Great, of course it was about her little brat of a brother. She probably thought he shouldn’t be grounded or something. 

“If this is about him being grounded, I’m not going to change my mind. I’ve talked to your parents and frankly your brother needs some proper discipline and boundaries.” 

“I wanted to thank you.” 

Wait—

“I’m sorry, what was that?” 

Doris and Angela looked just as confused, but Missy kept her eyes on Katy as she spoke. 

“I wanted to thank you. You’re right, Cooper needs boundaries. He’s a good kid, with a good heart, but… ever since he stated high school he’s been acting out. I try, I really do, but I can’t get through to him anymore. But he listens to you, he respects you. And more than anything, he wants your approval. I’ve done everything I can but it just isn’t enough, so I just wanted to say thank you for helping him, even though he’s supposed to be my responsibility.” 

“Isn’t he supposed to be your parents’ responsibility?” Angela asked. 

This time Missy’s laugh was clearly not rehearsed, wet and choked and more exhausted than any teenager should be. 

“Right,” she scoffed. “As if they’d take enough time off of their vacations to even call and ask how he’s doing, let alone come to see him.” 

Katie saw her own confusion mirrored on both Angela and Doris’ faces, and it was enough to make up her mind. 

“Why don’t you grab a seat, Missy,” she said, “we haven’t ordered yet and it sounds like we have a lot to talk about.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Missy is entirely my friend megdonnellys' (on tumblr) fault because she enables me and encouraged me to make American Housewife OCs in the first place, and once I started working on Missy, I just couldn't stop! I really hope that you all love her as much as I do, and you can find more content for her on my tumblr @randomestfandoms-ocs


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